This invention relates to a suction control device for an endoscope mounted on the endoscope body for sucking, for example, a body liquid or filth in the body cavity of a human being via a channel formed in the endoscope body, thereby to discharge it to the exterior, and for sending a medical treatment fluid such as a stupefacient or contrast material into the body cavity via said channel, by being fitted with the tip end portion of an injection instrument such as a syringe.
Where, in observing the interior of the body cavity utilizing the endoscope, a body liquid, filth or expectoration are present at the affected part of the body cavity, they constitute an obstacle to the observation and simultaneously blur the view field objective lens of the endoscope. Accordingly, it is required to remove such obstacle by operating the aforesaid suction control device. Furthermore, when it is desired to observe a digestive organ, it becomes necessary to eliminate superfluous air therefrom, and for deaerating the organ the suction control device is used.
The conventional suction control device comprises an outer tube connected to a suction instrument via a suction pipe, an inner tube slidably disposed within the outer tube and normally raised up to a normal position by the biasing force of a spring, an insertion pipe provided separately from said outer tube so as to communicate with the channel of the endoscope body, to permit, for example, a forceps to be inserted into the channel from the upper end opening portion of said pipe, and enable a medical treatment fluid to be injected into the channel by fitting the tip end portion of an injection instrument to said opening portion, and a communicating port for allowing the insertion pipe to communicate with said outer tube. Said communicating port is generally so constructed that it is normally so closed by the inner tube as to fail to perform the communicating action. And in inserting, for example, a forceps, or injecting a medical treatment fluid, the communicating port remains closed to prevent the sucking action from reaching the channel. In this case, since air is sent into the suction device from the upper end opening portion of the inner tube, application of an excessive load to the suction instrument is prevented. On the contrary, in sucking, for example, a body liquid, the upper end opening portion of the insertion pipe is first closed by, for example, a rubber stopper and simultaneously the upper end opening portion of the inner tube is closed with the operator's finger, and the inner tube is then pushed down against the biasing force of the spring, whereby to open the communicating port. Since, at this time, the sucking action comes to reach the interior of the insertion pipe and, further, the channel via the communicating port, a body liquid, for example, within the body cavity is sucked into the suction pipe by being passed through the channel, insertion pipe, communicating port and outer tube.
As above described, in sucking, the closure by the rubber stopper of the upper end opening portion of the insertion pipe and the manual closure of the inner tube are required each time sucking is effected, so that the sucking operation becomes extremely troublesome.
Particularly, in the case of a bronchoscope observation among the endoscope observations, frequent sucking operations are required for removing an expectoration, blood having come out of the body organ or for preventing blurring the view field objective lens. Also very often a stupefacient has to be injected in order to cause the patient's cough to stop during said sucking operations by fitting the injection instrument into the opening portion of the insertion pipe over and over again as required or contrast material has to be injected for the purpose of taking an X-ray photograph of the bronchia. For the foregoing reasons, the construction wherein the insertion pipe is provided separately from the inner and outer tubes as in the construction of the prior art device renders it extremely difficult to permit the viewer or observer to carry out a quick operation and simultaneously produces the possibility of an erroneous operation. Further, in the case of the above mentioned bronchoscope observation, the operation delay has a bad influence on the patient's respiration function, which particularly requires a quick operation.
For the purpose of achieving the foregoing speediness of the operations as much as possible, the prior art device has been improved, for example, by forming the upper end opening portion of the insertion pipe into a shape permitting it to be readily fitted with an injection instrument such as a syringe, which however has not yet attained a sufficient effect.
On the other hand, where it is desired to achieve the speediness of the operations, the washing and disinfecting operations of the suction control device inevitably required before the device once used is again employed should be performed in a shorter time. Such device washing and disinfecting operations are required for preventing infection due to infective pathogenic bacteria, and generally are carried out with respect to the whole of the endoscope including the suction control device.
In the endoscope fitted with the prior art suction control device, however, the suction control device is assembled in a manner integral with the endoscope body and simultaneously is complicated in its construction, which fails to cause the suction control device to be washed and disinfected to a sufficient extent.